| Specialized knowledge

Today, I'm focused on the creation of new interesting virtual characters. That means, I design and develop characters by creating 2D digital paintings with Photoshop, or by creating 3D models with 3DSMax, Mudbox, Photoshop. I continuously educate myself to increase the quality of my work as a digital artist. I have many years of experience in the computer game industry.

Work abilities:

  • independent, self-directed or in a team
  • fast, reliable, able to work under pressure
  • flexible, motivated, open minded
  • contributing innovative, visionary ideas
  • developing or optimizing new workflows
  • thinking ahead, foreseeing problematic details
  • fast understanding of complex structures

Languages:

I understand and speak fluently:

  • German (1st language)
  • English (2nd language)

I understand a little:

  • French (3rd language)
  • Latin (very little)
  • Greek (very little)

Design:

My basic design knowledge, experiences and skills goes along with my vocational training I made. I was educated in:

  • semiotic, technology and photography
  • graphic-design, product-design and screen-design
  • calligraphy, typography, dtp and printing
  • freehand and technical drawing, airbrush and other drawing techniques

In addition of the basics I engaged:

  • character-design, concept-design and interface-design
  • anatomy, mimic and movement of human and animal
  • figure drawing, principles of animation and storytelling

Photography:

Besides the general use of a photo-camera I endeavor the fusion of photography and computer graphics. I use my digital slr-camera Canon EOS 40D.

  • knowing technical aspects and requirements
  • portrait-, landscape-, makro-, special effects-, reference-photography
  • hdr-photography, 360° panoramas (cylindrical and spherical)
  • textures (with editing and finishing)
  • retouching photos

Software:

I'm familiar with the following software products:

  • 3DSMax, Mental Ray, (Maya), Mudbox, (ZBrush)
  • Photoshop, Painter, Lightroom, HDR-Shop
  • Premiere, After Effects, Nvidia Tools
  • Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Pagemaker
  • Facegen, Genetica, Gertrudis Pro, Twisted Brush

Techniques:

I got involved with the technical and creative aspects of several computer game developments from the beginning till the end of a project. So, I know the technical and creative procedures for creating 3D characters, for example. I'm familiar with the following techniques:

Designing:

  • designing and developing concepts (mostly characters)
  • pre-visualizing concepts by sketching or painting pictures (digital or traditional)
  • pre-visualizing concepts by drawing storyboards or creating animatics

Modeling:

  • modeling low- or hi-poly objects
  • sculpting very high detailed objects
  • modeling morph targets
  • unwrapping UVs
  • hair-, cloth-, dynamics-simulations

Texturing:

  • creating textures of all kind (painted or photographed)
  • creating normal and displacement maps
  • creating hdr-environment maps and backgrounds

Rendering:

  • creating materials and shaders
  • creating artificial or real-world light setups
  • creating artificial or real-world camera setups (aperture size, lens, exposure, dof)
  • rendering photorealistic scenes (hdr-output)
  • compositing virtual 3D models into real-world, live-action scenes

Animation:

  • creating skeletal setups
  • rigging and weighting bones
  • posing or animating characters
  • facial animation, lip-sync
  • morphing, blending shapes
  • hair-, cloth-, dynamics-simulations

 

| General knowledge

Interests:

Multimedia:

  • movies, animations, visual f/x, ilm
  • computer games, pc, ps2, m.a.m.e.
  • internet, books
  • music

Ancient history:

  • art, architecture, archeology
  • myths, religions and astrology
  • ancient symbolism, etymology (origin of words), latin, greek

Evolution:

  • morphology, fractals, geometry
  • lifeforms, plants, dinosaurs, man

Physics:

  • astronomy, cosmology, forces
  • elementary particles, quantum mechanics, electro-magnetism
  • zero point energy, free energy, anti-gravity

Unknown:

  • deep sea, crypto-zoology
  • aliens, ufos (debunking fakes)

Hobbies:

Currently:

  • photography
  • location scouting
  • treasure hunting (artefacts, fossils)